Jim White, Assistant Anglican Bishop of Auckland, today embarks on the fifth day of his kayak trip to Oihi in the Bay of Islands - the location of the first Christmas service in New Zealand 200 years ago.

For the historic service, which marked the beginning of the Christian missionary movement in New Zealand, Samuel Marsden's sermon was translated into Maori by Ngapuhi chief Ruatara. Continue reading

On Sunday night Bishop Ross and Bishop Jim White gave it back to Maori at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Khyber Pass.

It was accepted by Bishop Kito Pikaahu, of Te Tai Tokerau.

Bishop Kito intends to carry it round his hui amorangi and will take it to Oihi on Christmas Day.

During Sunday's service Bishop Kito invited descendants of those who gave the crozier 100 years ago to come forward and hold it.

He named the crozier Te Take ki Oihi , which identifies Oihi as the beginning of a bicultural journey.

"The shape of this crozier tells of the wellspring of life and it symbolises the continuity of a strong relationship between the Diocese of Auckland and the Diocese of Te Tai Tokerau," Bishop Kito added.

He noted that it was made from four woods, showing the tribes' various identities but also their unity in one crozier.

The service on Sunday night was part of the bicentenary celebrations marking the arrival of Samuel Marsden and other Anglican missionaries, alongside Maori chief Ruatara in New Zealand and the establishment of the first permanent European settlement with Maori at Oihi in the Bay of Islands.

The crozier was originally presented to the Bishop of Auckland in 1914 to mark the centenary of the same event.

It was presented by the four northern Maori tribes.

Very little else is known about the crozier including who carved it.

The diocese is asking anyone who knows its history to come forward.

Source

• Scoop.co.nz
• Maori TV
• Anglican Taonga
• Image: Anglican Taonga

51 elders from the North trekked across the ditch to Parramatta for the celebrations, which recognise an enduring relationship between their ancestor Ruatara and the Anglican minister Samuel L Marsden.

Early in the 19th century Marsden set up a school and farm to be used by his Maori visitors.

The site he chose was in the area surrounding what is now the the Rangihou Reserve, originally the territory of the Barramattagal clan of the Darug people.

As early as 1805, Maori were coming to Australia, such as Te Pahi, so regularly it was noted that "The Colony is never free from some of those Natives".

Another chief Kawiti Tiitua was perplexed and dissapointed by the general lack of engagement and hospitality offered by Europeans in Parramatta.
Source

• Discover Parrematta
• rangihou.wordpress.com
• MaoriTelevision
• parramattaheritage.blogspot.co.nz
• Image:arc.parracity.nsw.gov.au

Two events will take place at Rangihoua Heritage Park. The first on 21st December will be the formal commemoration attended by the Governor General who will also officially open the park.

The second on 25th December will be a Christmas Day service marking the bicentennial of Marsden's sermon which occurred on the site where the Marsden Cross now stands.

The Marsden Cross was unveiled at Rangihoua, Oihi, in the Bay of Islands in March 1907 by the Governor General, Lord Plunket. The monument is a large Celtic stone cross with the inscription:

On Christmas Day, 1814
the first Christian Service in N.Z.
was held on this spot
by the Rev. Samuel Marsden.

The accuracy of this description has been questioned as Christian services were held in New Zealand before this date.

It is very likely that Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, a Dominican priest and ship's chaplain on board Surville's Saint Jean-Baptiste, conducted Mass on board ship in New Zealand waters in 1769.

London Missionary Society missionaries on their way to Tahiti were in New Zealand waters in 1805.

During the exploratory voyage of Thomas Kendall and William Hall to New Zealand in 1814 Kendall recorded that they had prayers on deck the first Sunday they were in New Zealand. One week later, on 18 June, Kendall read "the prayers of the Church" on board ship

He commented that "Two or three chiefs were also with us, and the behaviour of the natives during Divine service was very decent and commendable. It was a new thing with them to see our way of worship and to hear of a day of rest from labour, and they seemed to enjoy the idea very much. service was very decent and commendable."

The organisers of the commemoration have set up a website where you can track their plans as they develop; see http://www.gospel2014.org/

Source

The Anglican church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

Image: gospel2014.org